Roll on 2013...

Next year I can't wait to read...

1) The new Curtis Sittenfeld, Sisterland.
She is just my favourite current writer. Prep and American Wife are fantastic, shrewd, sharp-eyed women's fiction. The new one looks like it's cut from a different cloth - about twins with a form of ESP, which seems to mark a step into a form of fantasy writing. For me she can do no wrong and so I can't wait for this book. Out June.

2) Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer
I devoured Bauer's previous three thrillers. Blacklands is particularly gripping but all are excellent (perhaps excepting the twist at the end of Darkside, which I wasn't entirely convinced by). Rubbernecker is about an anatomy student uncovering dark secrets from the past. Sounds good to me. Out January.

3) The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
This has got summer hit written all over it. A smart thriller about a serial killer ranging over decades in America - looks delicious. Out May

4) The Quickening by Julie Myerson
I find Julie Myerson a quirky and challenging author. This is a novella which sees her writing a horror story set in Antigua under the Hammer imprint. I think horror is the next genre fiction to make the crossover into the literary mainstream (cf fantasy and historical fiction), and I'd love it if this were a part of it. I'm looking forward to seeing how Myerson tackles the genre...Out March

Sophie Hannah is also bringing out one of these Hammer novellas called The Orphan Choir in May. Needless to say I can't wait for this one either! I like Hannah's psychological thrillers about the horrible intruding into everyday life, which makes me think I will love this story of a woman who moves to the country and is tormented by the sound of a neighbour's music...

5) The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
I've had this on my wish list for a long time. The Emperor's Children, Messud' s fabulous novel about young Manhattanites and 9/11, is one of my favourite reads of the decade. Her new novel follows a young teacher in Massachusetts who gets drawn into the life of the family of one of her pupils. Out May

6) The Chessmen by Peter May
What crime fan isn't practically frothing at the mouth to read the final of the Lewis trilogy? I love the wild atmosphere of these books and the sense of the isolated community that May develops. Along with the fantastic mystery, of course. Out January!

7) Life after Life by Kate Atkinson
I can't imagine there are many readers who don't love Kate Atkinson. Her funny, gripping novels are touching and unique. Her latest isn't one of the Jackson Brodie novels she's been writing over the past few years, instead it's a novel about a woman born into the blitz. Possibly with a fantasy element, this looks customarily unique from Atkinson.

If by the end of 2013 these novels turn out to have been half as good as I'm anticipating I will be a very happy reader indeed!

As an addendum, books published this year that I'm looking forward to reading in paperback include...

Gold by Chris Cleave
Reservation Road by John Burnham Shwartz
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The Small Hours by Susie Boyt
The Innocents by Francesca Segal
Cold Hands by John Niven
A Question of Identity by Susan Hill

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On the pleasures of ghost stories

As a lifelong fan of the ghost story I was particularly pleased to see Andrew Taylor's new story Broken Voices on the first list of Kindle Singles. I really enjoyed The American Boy years ago on a holiday to Rome - it still evokes memories of a blissful day on a park bench in spring - so the combination of Taylor and ghost story was exciting to say the least.

Broken Voices was just the latest in a long line of ghost stories I've read and enjoyed over the latest 31 years. I vividly remember a short story I read over and over again as a child which featured a haunted newell post. While this sounds a ridiculous premise for a story, like all the best ghost stories, it was unforgettably terrifying. The young protagonist innocently dressed the newell post each day by hanging his coat on it and placing shoes beneath it. One dark night he walks up the stairs to the sound of dragging footsteps close behind him...Unfortunately I can't remember the author of this chilling delight, which was published as part of an anthology of children's ghost stories. If anyone can remember I'd love to hear from you!

Broken Voices contains many of the classic tropes of the genre: a Christmas setting, a story within a story, a child protagonist in an isolated setting. It's set in a cathedral and it's environs - a wonderful choice for a creepy tale. There's a deliciously gothic flavour to a scene where the protagonist and his companion enter the huge cathedral late at night and feel overwhelmed by the cavernous stone structure. The boys are investigating a mysterious loss in the cathedral itself. That's about as much as I'll reveal about the plot itself; it would be invidious to spoil either the unraveling of the tale or its denouement.

Taylor is a master of the drip feed of unease necessary for a good ghost story. Lovely details are used to add a macabre touch: a malevolent cat, a grotesque episode in a barn, a lost cap all add to the atmosphere. And the haunting itself is appealing unusual. A lovely cocktail of fear very suitable for Christmas.

The modern mistress of the form is, of course, Susan Hill. With many ghost stories to her name, the most famous is The Woman In Black. Here Hill's mastery of setting is clear; the creation of Eel Marsh house is a masterpiece. Her recent The Small Hand is a more intimate ghost story, less about horror and more about terror - the terror of what is simultaneously known and unknown. Her protagonist is haunted by a child ghost - much like the narrator of AS Byatt's superb short story "The Summer Ghost", published in the excellent Virago Book of Ghost Stories. Both The Small Hand and Byatt's story are sad as well as scary.

And of course there are the classic ghost stories of the nineteenth century: The Signalman by Dickens,  O Whistle and I'll Come to You by MR James (and of course all the other Jamesian treats - Lost Hearts is gloriously macabre)...I could go on. I read an interesting piece by Mark Gatiss (whose set of modern ghost stories for BBC4, Crooked House, was an excellent modern addition to the ghost story for Christmas genre) in the Christmas New Statesman which revealed the apparent fear of the female form latent in James's stories. Although I'm not entirely convinced by such a psychological reading of James's oeuvre, I did find it added a new layer to my thinking on the stories themselves. My own preferred (psychological!) reading of the Victorian era's predilection for and mastery of the ghost story is that it reflects the anxiety felt about a changing world. The ghosts are the spectres of a simpler time pressing back into industrialised England.

I can't conclude this without mentioning my absolute favourite ghost story by one of my all time favourite authors: Afterwards by Edith Wharton. Although we now know Wharton mainly as an incisive commentator on turn of the century New York, she was also a superb writer on the supernatural. Afterwards is a truly wonderful story, set in a crumbling country house in the English countryside. There's a ghost bringing retribution for a past sin - but, as the title tells us, both the reader and the characters won't know it till long afterwards.

I could go on - and possibly will in another post! No room for The Little Stranger, for example, and what about The Shining? I'd like to think a bit more about the line between a ghost story and a horror story. And that means a trip into Stephen King territory - which definitely means another post is needed. Meanwhile, read and enjoy Taylor's Broken Voices - and if there are other classic ghost stories you love or I've missed please let me know in the comments!

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The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd: unusual historical fiction

Over Christmas I read Lloyd Shepherd's recent historical novel which Simon and Schuster PR kindly sent me a review copy of. Initially I wasn't sure it would be for me - I thought at first it was a true crime book. Which it sort of is, but it's a lot more interesting and gripping than true crime usually is. Plus, it's not all true!

Shepherd's starting point is the apparently notorious Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811, a particularly brutal and unsavoury crime which, despite the arrest and subsequent suicide of the supposed perpetrator, many feel was never satisfactorily solved. The English Monster weaves together a mostly fictional explanation for these murders which takes in slavery, skulduggery and even a little bit of sorcery.

I felt the best aspect of the novel was the ease with which Shepherd mixes his historical fact with a fantastical element. The novel blends crime, history and fantasy with ease - a bit like my absolute favourite novel of the last ten years, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.  The evocation of eighteenth and nineteenth century Wapping,  where the.murders take place, is grimly realistic, whilst the pictures of tropical Jamaica scarred by its association with slavery are lushly evocative. The dual storyline follows events in both these locations before coming together in the final.chapters as the murders are "solved" by the proto-detective Horton. The reader, of course, has got there before him.

I can recommend this to any crime fans as well as historical fiction and fantasy readers. Even better, it's currently in the Kindle 12 days of Xmas promotion - and it's definitely worth a read.

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Richard and Judy books

So today the Spring 2013 Richard and Judy Thorntons Book Club books were announced (and here they are on the WH Smith website)

I do like the R and J list; usually the selections are very readable, occasionally they're adventurous and there's always at least one I want to read.

This time out I've read, loved (and reviewed on this blog) Gone Girl. I have been desperate to read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry for about 8 months! And I was just showing the husband Chris Cleave's Gold in Waterstones last week. I hadn't heard of this author before we read The Other Hand in my book club. I thought it was very readable and original so I do want to read his latest one. I've also been wanting to read John Green's YA novel The Fault in our Stars for a while. It looks like a nice change from the dystopian landscape of current YA trends!

I hadn't heard of David Mark's The Dark Winter but after a look at the description it seems right up my street. The R and J choices usually include a good crime novel - I think they "broke" The Blackhouse - so I trust I'm in good hands. And I love a bit of Americana, particularly if it's anything to do with politics, so I quite fancy Noah Hawley' s The Good Father.

Of course, the best thing is that all these books should be out in paperback soon! (of course, I'm always open to review copies here at Rich Tapestry Reads, should any kind publishers be reading). And hopefully lots of new readers will find and enjoy something a bit different.

I hadn't heard of

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If you got a Kindle for Xmas and are browsing the sale...

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey: beautiful descriptions of Alaska and a haunting story. Evocative and magical, this is a really compelling novel.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn: if like me you've read and loved Gone Girl, go back to the start with Sharp Objects. A creepy and quirky slice of Southern Gothic with a shocking twist. Unsettling and shivery.

My Sister Lives on the Masterpiece by Annabel Pitcher. This could so easily be very corny. A family relocate to Yorkshire after one of their twin daughters is killed in a terrorist attack on London. In this very modern story Pitcher tackles racism, alcoholism, depression and growing up with a very light touch. It was my pick to win the Carnegie.

The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd: ok, so I'm only two thirds of the way through this, but an early heads up for my good review. A touch of Mr Whicher plus a smidgen of Jonathan Strange makes an original and gripping historical/fantasy fiction read. Recommended.

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have we had enough of...

- dystopian YA novels?
- cashin 50 shades erotica?
- scandi crime?

*disclaimer*

I'm certainly partial to bit of scandi crime - I do like Jo Nesbo and have a soft spot for Jussi Adler-Olson - and the same for YAY dystopian fiction (take a bow, Lauren Oliver and Patrick Ness). But I think I'm ready for something different...roll on 2013!

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Because I am off home to Belfast for the holidays the husband and I did our Christmas present opening today. And here are my lovely books (all requested of course!) 2 problems: don't know which to read first and can't take any on the plane as they are too heavy. Kindle Christmas it is - for me and many others i suspect.

Happy Christmas blog readers if you are readong - onwards and upwards next year!

so much pretty by Cara Hoffman: intriguingly different

I have to admit, I found this an unusual read. A crime novel - yes. A study of adolescence - also yes. An examination of small town politics, environmentalism and radicalism - also yes.

So Much Pretty, to me, was the story of Alice Piper. In Haeden,  New York State, local girl Wendy goes missing and isn't found for months. When she is found, it's clear she's been dead for a matter of hours and, horrifyingly, has been kept alive for unspecified purposes.

Cara Hoffman, in her debut novel, skilfully manages the unraveling of Wendy's story with that of local precocious teen Alice Piper. Whilst Wendy is a small town everygirl, Alice is a proto-genius in training, with an intensely close relationship with fellow local outsider Theo. Alice's parents moved from Manhattan to Haeden many years prior to Wendy's disappearance: it is testament to Hoffman's skill that she cleverly manages the many threads and  perspectives on the story of Wendy's disappearance.

As the novel progresses the character of Alice becomes clearer and clearer to the reader,  as do those of her idealistic parents. We see through the layers of Haeden society to penetrate to the dark core of this seemingly idyllic small town.

It may be that this unusual novel of a disrupted New England community seems even more pertinent in the light of Sandy Hook - and if you've read it you'll notice a sad connection between the two stories, one fictional, one all too real. It's certainly the case that this unusual crime novel will stay with you long after you've read it.

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Dare Me by Megan Abbott: lean mean teen queens

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this fab novel as a member of the Pan Macmillan reading group. Unfortunately due to ill health I couldn't make the meet up and discussion, which I was very disappointed about particularly as I loved the last meet up. So I thought I'd write a blog piece and share my views on it.

I have to admit I had actually already downloaded the novel onto my kindle prior to the lovely Jodie sending me my copy. I loved Megan Abbott's last novel "The End of Everything" for its evocative picture of teenage girls' friendships in a small town in a sleepy summer (with shades of "The Virgin Suicides" - another favourite). So I was really looking forward to this novel.

I felt like "Dare Me" took Megan Abbott into a different league. The story of hyper competitive cheerleaders and their warped relationship with their coach also has elements of a crime novel. It's a pageturner with a cracking plot, based both on a horrible crime and on the relationship between Addy, our narrator, Beth, her frenemy and Coach, who plays all the girls against each other both in cheerleading and for her affections.

Megan Abbott is so sharp on what makes girls tick. The cheer squad hate Beth and want to be her, all long limbs and insouciant control; Addy is jealous of Coach and longs for her approval. Coach pulls the girls close to compensate for the shallowness in her own life and keeps them at arm's length to preserve her mystique. No one really likes anyone else but they can't stop thinking about them.

The girls are forever on their phones tapping out messages of love and hate. They're always connected and can never escape attention. So although the girls can be loathsome, you pity them and (for adult readers) breathe a sigh of relief that you're too old for all that. I'm not actually sure teenage girls would like this novel: it may be too sharp and probing. Could they share the adult reader's pity for Beth?

A classy and chilling crime novel; a dark and compelling psychological thriller; an empathetic and ultimately sympathetic portrait of teenage girls. Definitely comes highly recommended.

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The Reading Pile...what next?!

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman
Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates
The Distance Between Us by Maggie O'Farrell

Any suggestions as to which to tackle next welcome!

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Gone Girl: worthy of the plaudits

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is pre-approved. Lauded and recommended highly by virtually everyone whose bookish opinion I respect (including Alexandra Heminsley/@Hemmo who I think must be my book twin as her taste is identical to mine), it would be tough for any book to live up to the expectations I had for this novel.

I'm pleased to say I loved it. Otherwise my book-faith might have been seriously dented. But there's another problem. How to review a book that's had acres of coverage, and a thriller at that - one with a fiendishly well worked-out plot that I would hate to spoil for any reader?

As I'm sure you know, Gone Girl follows the characters of Nick and Amy Dunne. One day, Nick awakes to find his perfect wife...gone. As the novel progresses, we learnt that both Nick and Amy are not what we first took them for.

Gone Girl is truly original. I can't even begin to imagine how Gillian Flynn was able to create this perfect riddle of a book. It's so well worked out that thinking about it too much might make your head swim. It's also marvelously quirky, both in style (Flynn creates absolutely authentic and very different voices for her two characters) and in subject matter. There are so many layers of detail that build up to create a compelling portrait of a very strange marriage.

Suffice to say you should read it, if you've not already succumbed to the hype. In this case, it's truly justified.

You'll like this if you enjoy: anything by Laura Lippman
What to read next: Sharp Objects also by Gillian Flynn, Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

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Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel: an all-consuming trip into the past.

Wow, it's hard to blog in term time. Must Do Better, I think...so to start with, some thoughts on this year's Booker winner. Not the most original of reviews to write - I'm sure a quick Google would turn up thousands - but as the last book I read it's as good a place to rebegin as any. 

I'd had the (beautiful) hardback since the summer but had been saving it for half-term, remembering from my experience of reading Wolf Hall in the summer holidays how engrossing Mantel's world is, and how, frankly, challenging her work can be. The present tense and choice to use "he" so frequently to refer to Cromwell make for a novel which demands concentration.
And the reader's concentration is certainly repaid. Mantel once again recreates an early modern world for us through deftly chosen detail. Her research is both apparent and unobtrusive; a magical scene wherein Cromwell's household make a snowman of the Pope lingers in the memory - so much so that I wasn't surprised to learn that this incident was one which Mantel adapted from a contemporary letter she'd read as research. For me, the authenticity with which she creates Cromwell's world is the hallmark of the novel.

I have to admit, though, that I found this novel less gripping than the last. My familiarity with the story of Anne Boleyn's fall led me to be uninterested in the buildup to it in the narrative. The fall itself was arresting and made startlingly new through Cromwell's perspective - but the back-room negotiations prior to it seemed prolonged.

Mantel's depiction of Jane Seymour was possibly the most original and  compelling aspect of Bring Up The Bodies. I loved the portrait of a watchful, purposely bland and blank woman, waiting for her chance to be Anne's opposite.

Hilary Mantel certainly doesn't need my humble blog's comments or for me to reaffirm her work as Booker winner. I'll simply close by saying I've already tried (and failed) to find out the publication date of the final part of the Cromwell trilogy, The Mirror and the Light. Can't hardly wait.

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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: truly beautiful writing

This was my second holiday read after The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood and it couldn't have been more different. I'd actually been saving up Madeline Miller's recreation of the Trojan War for aaaages (since before it won the Orange Prize so I claim retroactive smugness) as I suspected I'd love it and would want to enjoy it without distraction.

And I was right. This is a gorgeous book: rich yet modern, moving and lyrical. Miller has chosen to retell part of the story of the Trojan War from the perspective of Patroclus, whom she casts as Achilles' lover. I have to admit I had to do a little googling to remember the bare bones of the Achilles / Patroclus story; I vaguely remembered from my GCSE Latin my teacher telling us about Achilles grieving over Patroclus and my thinking "oh, they must have been such good friends". Well, while the Iliad itself doesn't do much more apparently than allude to a romantic relationship between the two, Miller foregrounds the love affair between these two very different men and in doing so refreshes the story of the Trojan War, possibly even opening it up to a wider audience. Whilst I can't see that many women readers warming to the story of a siege, The Song of Achilles is the story of a love affair in wartime.

Chunks of the story itself were familiar to me: the abduction of Helen (I could never remember whether it was Menelaus or Agamemnon who she was married to, but I certainly won't forget after Miller's vivid portrait of Agamemnon as a jealous, bitter rival to Achilles); Hector being dragged around the ramparts; Priam pleading for his son's body. Achilles and his role I was less sure of - a hero, a helmet and a heel was about as far as my memory went.

Miller begins the story with Patroclus' childhood. Initially an unappealing young boy, Patroclus commits an accidental murder and is banished to Pthion, of which the demi-god Achilles is prince. While Achilles at first seems to disdain Patroclus, over time they grow to be friends and, eventually, lovers. However, destiny hangs over Achilles. His sea-nymph mother Thetis - who hates Patroclus with a grim passion - warns him that to fulfil his destiny as a famous warrior he must die at Troy. Patroclus and Achilles unwillingly set out for Troy and their fate...

To say that Miller breathes life into the Iliad would be to do a disservice to both her and the original text. The rich and ambiguous source material has inspired her to create a new, modern love story. Patroclus' voice is a triumph: as the narrator of the story, he paints for us a picture of Achilles as supremely human and supremely inhuman, at the same time as conveying his own flaws. But Patroclus turns out to be the real hero of the story - the best of the Greeks - and Miller's skill as an author is in creating a fully real human being in Patroclus with whom we admire, pity and empathise.

I must mention the chilling portrait of the sea-nymph Thetis. A modern reader might be tempted to see ancient gods almost as cartoon characters, but Miller paints Thetis as a terrifying presence. The description of her is so powerfully chilling that I nearly felt the rough waves of the sea coming off the page when she appears. Yet so rich is this novel that, by the end, we can pity even her.

The conclusion of the story must have posed a problem for Miller. Patroclus is our first person narrator, but we know (if we've remembered our GCSE Latin) that his death comes before Achilles'. Miller's means of overcoming this narrative obstacle is perfectly in keeping with the genre of her novel, and, after some initial scepticism, I was thoroughly convinced.

The language and style employed by Miller is both unique and utterly appropriate for this classical tale. Again, my memory is a little blurred, but I remember a lot about Homeric epithets: figurative language such as "the wine-dark sea" repeated in the Iliad for both vividness and for aid of recall of the original storyteller. Miller updates these in creating rich, figurative and sensual prose which is a feast for the reader. The description of Thetis' voice is a case in point: compared to rocks grinding in the sea, we hear the harsh, loud and rasping tones plainly and vividly as she speaks.

I can't really do this fabulous novel justice in a blogpost; suffice to say it was a more than worthy, and possibly a brave choice for the Orange prize. It deserves a huge readership and I really hope it gets one. A perfect choice for a book group, it would also be enjoyed by older teenagers. Or just about anybody. Read it at all costs!

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The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood: a thought-provoking and tense crime novel

Increasingly I find myself drawn to crime fiction, and a particular type above any other: thoughtful, psychological fiction about crime and its aftermath rather than whodunnits. (That's not to say that I don't enjoy a good Jo Nesbo type page-turner...those have their place - generally at the end of a school term when I'm so tired the book virtually needs to turn its own pages!). Alex Marwood's recent The Wicked Girls fits my new crime brief perfectly; it's a multi-layered narrative about the impact of crime on criminals and specifically on criminals who are children.
The Wicked Girls has two storylines: one traces a single day in the life of two young girls, Bel and Jade, who commit a terrible crime. We know from the beginning that these two will kill another girl, but it's only as the story unfolds that we learn how and - if it's possible - why.
Bel and Jade meet for the first time on the day they become criminals. From very different social classes, the two girls are nonetheless both abandoned by their parents. The scruffy, notorious Jade intrigues prim but hard Bel, and vice versa. Alex Marwood's skill is in encouraging us to pity both these unloveable girls who together are drawn into a terrible act which profoundly damages them both.
The other strand of the novel - and the one which dominates the plot - follows a serial killer in a coastal town.  (To me the town with its decaying funfair and depressing aura felt like Margate, and I'd be interested to know if Marwood had this in mind when she created the setting). The serial killer is targeting young women, and local cleaner Amber is unlucky enough to find two of the bodies.
Of course these stories are connected, and I won't spoil anything by revealing how, but in many ways that isn't the point of this book. The identity of the serial killer isn't that surprising either, but that too is far from the point. The novel really explores our perception and treatment of child criminals, and forces the reader to question her attitudes to crime and punishment. The James Bulger case hangs over this novel - Thomson and Venables are explicitly mentioned at points as a counterpoint to Jade and Bel, and I found it really interesting to consider the role gender plays. Are Bel and Jade treated differently because they are girls?
The novel races to a gripping climax on a seaside pier - a wonderfully creepy setting, made even more so by the inclusion of a hall of waxworks. The adult Bel and Jade are forced to confront waxworks of their childhood criminal selves, frozen forever at the moment of their wrongdoing. This very clever device provokes the reader to consider whether a criminal should be frozen by their crime forever. Can we or should we ever separate Thomson and Venables from those primary school photos? What about Ian Brady? Would it, as I read in the press this week, actually diminish Brady's power to see him fading year by year? It's the sign of a crime novel going beyond the genre that The Wicked Girls encourages this kind of thinking. And doesn't offer an easy answer.
The Wicked Girls is Alex Marwood's first novel, and I'm certainly looking forward to its followup. Marwood was a journalist before becoming a full-time author, and some of the most enjoyable light-hearted moments in the book come from the depiction of the hard-nosed journalists covering the serial killer case. The novel overall really benefited from a good balance in terms of the plotlines: the dual narrative allows the author to include tension, pathos and humour, alongside some interesting social commentary on the inhabitants of the seaside town.
In sum, The Wicked Girls is a novel about crime. Compelling and intriguing, it'll stay with you after you've turned the last page.

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Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

I was interested to learn that this fantasy novel was marketed as a YA offering in the US; in fact, the author's own website declares it as a YA text. But in the UK it's not, and seems to be positioned for a commercial literary fiction market. After reading it I still can't decide what the "right" audience for this fantasy romance is. YA or not YA?

The story follows Karou, a blue-haired and mysterious seventeen-year-old art student in Prague. Karou, however, lives a double life. Some days she goes to life drawing class and drinks coffee in her favourite ghoulish cafe with her friend Zuzana. Other days, she travels the world running errands for a teeth-collecting demon called Brimstone, who has raised her from her birth.

But Karou's biggest difficulty is that she doesn't know who she is. Brimstone will tell her nothing of her origins, and his chimaera helpers are sympathetic, but ultimately they, too, hide Karou's background from her. As the pages turn, Karou and the reader learn about her past and the world of Elsewhere that lies behind various portals in Marrakesh, Paris and Prague.

The novel developed quite differently to what I expected. At first I was a bit anxious: lots of names with xs and zs in them, half-human creatures with magical powers - it all felt a bit contrived. But when the plot surrounding Karou's true identity became intertwined with a quite moving love story I was hooked.

The settings Taylor uses - both real and Elsewhere - are beautifully evoked. Her prose is lush and vivid, although I'm not sure the dialogue always works as well as the description. Later in the book, split narrative is used effectively to give us two different perspectives on events. And I must mention the creation myths Taylor weaves into her novel. Although we aren't sure as readers whether or not to believe these myths, they are compellingly realised.

All in all, I wholeheartedly enjoyed Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which is the first in a planned trilogy, with the next installment due soon. I'll certainly be buying the followup, particularly after the gripping conclusion to the first novel.

And on reflection, I think the novel is possibly a true example of a cross-over text. I can see teenagers and adult readers enjoying this and I'm not sure that placing it in a different section of the bookshop makes any difference to that.

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kindling

I'm stuck in the house waiting for my replacement kindle to be delivered, which got me to thinking about e-readers in general. It's definitely a big talking point in the book world at the moment and I think e-readers will only get more influential as time goes on.

I'll start by confessing to being a relatively early adopter of and evangelist for the kindle. My old kindle 3 was a gift last February from my husband and I loved it. I still do - until it broke last week while I was on holiday. More of that later though.

What did I love? The screen and its matte paperiness. The little Casio keyboard esque typepad with the round clicky buttons. The easy interface with the kindle store. The massive storage capacity. And of course I loved our holidays together. No book-induced luggage weighin panic. Buying books on holiday when I ran out. A dream come true.

The storage capacity is an important one. I live in a small terraced house, and currently books are everywhere. Beside the sofa. In a teetering pile on my bedside table. Under the spare bed. In bags in the attic. In 3 bookshelves. On chairs in the dining room. On the kitchen counter (for the cookbook addiction). So I loved the idea that I could reduce the bookspill in my house. To be honest, I think that's why my husband bought me it.

My kindle 3 and I were happy together. I loved reading it in bed after I bought an expensive amazon cover with a builtin light. But kindle didn't replace printed books. First off - and I know this is a real issue in publishing - was the cost of ebooks. I really value books. I don't disregard the cost of editing, marketing, and publishing great books. But I do think a physical book should cost more than a download. Perhaps we've got too used to cheap books (hello, end of the Net Book Agreement, which I can just about remember). But a readjustment of some.kind needs to take place.

Lately, I think it's me who's been adjusting a bit. I've realised that the convenience of the ebook might be worth paying £4.99 for. But I'd have to know I wanted it already to pay that. I think that's because if I take a chance on an ebook and I don't like it, there's not much I can do about it. I can't pass it on to someone else in the hope they might enjoy it, or give it to charity. I do like passing books around, whether I have or haven't liked them and I think that's a big loss if you exclusively kindle.

I also buy secondhand books loads, and of course that doesn't happen on the kindle. And some books have such beautiful cover art that I want to own them. So the bookdrift continues to accumulate.

On Monday I went to a really interesting readers' group meeting at Pan Macmillan with the author Carol Rifka Brunt. She very interestingly said that the library was her kindle - that's where she got books she didn't want to keep. I was really struck by this. I love my local library and am a keen borrower. (At the moment I've got a fine waiting to be paid so I've not been for a while, but I'll gloss over that.) I think for me the library's a bit different. Its usp is hardbacks. The request facility is what I go for - and the fact that I know if I'm not enjoying a book I can stop: no questions asked, no buyer's remorse.

At the bookgroup we were asked how many of us had ereaders. I was really surprised by the low number - I'd previously assumed they were at the.tipping point (cf Malcolm Gladwell). My dad has one. The secretaries at work all have them. I see them everywhere on the train. But this group of booklovers seemed slightly unconvinced. If I remember correctly, only one person said they did the majority of their reading on kindle. Maybe they aren't "for" bookworms. Maybe they're for more casual readers.

But back to the broken kindle. My beloved 3 developed heart failure. The screen blanked out, nasty lines appeared, and no amount of tlc would restore it. Amazon's best offer to me was a 20% discount on a new one. Frankly, I think this is poor. I spend lots of money with them; the kindle is broken through no fault of my own; it's only 18 months old. But they wouldn't budge.

So I'm left waiting in for a new one. Why did I buy it? Well - I'm hooked. I still love the papery screen. I still love reading it in bed. I really really love the 99p deals. I have loads of ebooks on it I haven't read yet and I don't fancy reading them on my phone. And, crucially, I'm going on holiday tomorrow. So, like an old lipstick or a bashed up biscuit, the kindle is in my handbag to stay.

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The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina

I picked this book up partly on an impulse; I'd seen it picked out in a newspaper review supplement and noticed it had won the Old Peculiar Crime Novel award. I had it on my amazon wishlist for a bit and then happened to see it in the supermarket book section (shhh, I know it's bad, but it was £3.99 and I do shop at independents sometimes...).

I can only apologise for that terribly boring introduction - I'm still new to reviewing. Denise Mina's novel is much more interesting and deserves better!

It's a crime novel of sorts, set in Scotland but far from Rebus territory. The plot follows Alex Morrow, a DS investigating the brutal murder of a young woman in an old mansion house. This murder is obliquely connected to the suicide of a businessman in Sevenoaks. And that's where Mina's intriguing novel differentiates itself from standard crime fare. The connection is actually pretty clear from early in the book - it's the why that we are waiting to find out.

This makes for an interesting writing style. Mina drops crucial pieces of information in almost as asides; these plot points are often so casually inserted into the narrative as to require a quick re-read. As a reader it certainly kept me on my toes. I did find the book quite dark- for example, the details of the murder victim's death are so gruesome that they shock the police officers. Characters discuss their nature without providing specifics, and when the specifics are provided in a later scene at the police station, I felt a shiver of revulsion.

It became clear early on that I was reading one of a sequence of novels. Some details about Morrow's personal life are alluded to which must form the plot of earlier novels. It's to Mina's credit that I am interested to read other earlier stories featuring Alex Morrow, whose connections to criminal underworlds via her brother provided a layer of social commentary which deepened the scope of the novel.

Like many crime novels, this doesn't offer easy answers to some of the issues it raises: poverty, middle class neglect and corruption are explored through the various layers of the plot. Whilst the end was relatively bleak, some hope was offered, but not so much that it seemed corny or unbelievable.

All in all, an enjoyable, unusual and thought-provoking crime novel. Not a whodunnit to gobble up but a social exploration to absorb.

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into the ether

I wonder how many blogs start with something along the lines of "This is my first post. not sure if anyone is reading this."? I'll avoid that cliche and instead start with another: the potebtially self-important explanation.

Without sounding too Sarah Jessica Parker about it, I began to wonder why I didn't have a books blog at a fantastic readers' session at Pan Macmillan today. So many others seemed to have them, and I'd been considering it for a while. So on the train home I decided to take the plunge into cyberspace.

After a bit of thought I decided on rich tapestry as my blog name. The readers' panel got me thinking about why I enjoy reading so much. I'd like to think of myself as a gregarious kind of person but my favourite pastime is so solitary. And this afternoon I loved finding others who loved reading as much as me. I suppose I decided that reading (and as Atticus Finch would say, walking in someone else's shoes) is a way of being a thread in the rich tapestry of everyone else's experience of the world and being one of those threads is good enough for me. 

And then blogger had the domain name available, and the rest is...well, this, really. I mainly read commercial literary fiction and crime, but I'll give most things a go. I'm not a huge sci-fi or fantasy reader; that's not to say that I won't ever read a book in either of those genres, but it'd take a bit to get me to buy one. And I start, but rarely finish, non-fiction occasionally.

That's probably enough for now. I'll try to keep up my good intentions and review a recent read tomorrow.